/little-backup-box

Raspberry Pi-based backup device for photographers

Primary LanguageJavaScriptGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

Little Backup Box

Little Backup Box is an application that transforms a Raspberry Pi (or any single-board computer running a Debian-based Linux distribution) into an inexpensive, fully-automatic, pocketable backup device. While the primary purpose of Little Backup Box is to serve as a photo backup device, it's not limited to this specific usage scenario.

Little Backup Box features

  • Back up the contents of a storage card to an external USB storage device. Little Backup Box supports practically any USB card reader, and, by extension, any card format.
  • Transfer photos and RAW files directly from a camera to an external USB storage device. If your camera is supported by gPhoto2 software, it will work with Little Backup Box.
  • Use multiple cards. Little Backup Box assigns a unique ID to each card and create a separate folder for each card on the backup storage device.
  • Perform card backup fully automatically with no user interaction.
  • Start specific backup operations manually using Little Backup Box's web UI.
  • Automatically generate a minimalist responsive gallery from the backed up RAW files.
  • Stream the backed up photos to any DLNA-compatible client.
  • Access the backed up content from other machines on the network.
  • Push backed up contents to a cloud storage service.

Installation

  1. Create a bootable SD card with the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS Lite for use with Little Backup Box.
  2. Make sure that your Raspberry Pi is connected to the internet.
  3. Run the following command on the Raspberry Pi: curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dmpop/little-backup-box/main/install-little-backup-box.sh | bash

Little Backup Box supports three backup modes:

  • Card backup Automatically backs up the contents of a storage card to an external storage device.
  • Camera backup Transfers photos, RAW files, and videos from the camera connected directly to the Raspberry Pi. The transferred files are saved in the /home/pi/BACKUP/[CAMERA MODEL] directory on the system storage card. Important Make sure that the camera is set to the MTP USB connection mode.
  • Internal backup Automatically backs up the contents of a storage card to the internal storage.

During the installation, choose the desired mode from the selection dialog.

When prompted, reboot the Raspberry Pi.

Usage

The exact steps depend on the backup mode.

Remote control mode

The remote control mode is enabled by default. This mode allows you to control and manage Little Backup Box via a web UI.

  1. Point the browser to http://127.0.0.1:8000 (replace 127.0.0.1 with the actual IP address of the Raspberry Pi).
  2. Start the desired action by pressing the appropriate button.

Remote control interface

  • Press the SYSTEM INFO icon to access basic system information, such as a list of storage devices and memory usage.
  • To view JPEG files on the backup storage device, click the RAW VIEWER icon.
  • To edit the configuration file, click the SETTINGS icon.

Card backup mode

  1. Boot the Raspberry Pi.
  2. Plug in a backup storage device.
  3. Insert a storage card into a card reader and plug it into the Raspberry Pi.
  4. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down.

Note: To differentiate between different storage cards, the backup script creates a datetime-based .id file in the root of each storage card. The name of the .id file is also used as the destination backup folder on the storage device.

Camera backup mode

  1. Boot the Raspberry Pi.
  2. Connect the camera to the Raspberry Pi.
  3. Turn the camera on.
  4. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down.

Internal backup mode

  1. Boot the Raspberry Pi.
  2. Insert a storage card into a card reader and plug it into the Raspberry Pi.
  3. Wait till the Raspberry Pi shuts down.

Problems, comments, ideas, updates?

To discuss Little Backup Box-related topics and get the latest updates, visit the official forum at PIXLS.US.

Please report bugs and issues in the Issues section.

Uninstall Little Backup Box

To uninstall Little Backup Box, run the following command:

curl -sSL https://is.gd/unlittlebackupbox | bash

Contribute

If you've found a bug or have a suggestion for improvement, open an issue in the Issues section.

To add a new feature or fix issues yourself, follow the following steps.

  1. Fork the project's repository repository
  2. Create a feature branch using the git checkout -b new-feature command
  3. Add your new feature or fix bugs and run the git commit -am 'Add a new feature' command to commit changes
  4. Push changes using the git push origin new-feature command
  5. Submit a pull request

Author

Dmitri Popov

I like coffee

Buy me a coffee, and I'll work even harder on Little Backup Box.

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Little Backup Book

The Little Backup Book book provides step-by-step instructions on building, configuring, using, and troubleshooting a Raspberry Pi-based photo backup device running Little Backup Box. Get your copy on Google Play Store or Gumroad.

By buying the book, you are supporting the Linux Backup Box project.

License

The GNU General Public License version 3